The U.S. Department of State has selected the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, the Oak Ridge National Laboratory(UT- ORNL); and Purdue University as participants in one of six new US–China EcoPartnerships. The partnerships will spur collaboration among US and Chinese researchers and focus on sustainability issues in the two nations, including the environmental challenges posed by alternative energy development and climate change.

Lee Riedinger, UT physics professor and director of the Center for Interdisciplinary Research and Graduate Education, represents UT at the signing ceremony establishing the US-China EcoPartnership. To Riedinger’s left are the other signers: Purdue University President France A. Córdova; Cheng-Hu Zhou, deputy director of the Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research; and Gui-Bin Jiang, deputy director of the Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences.

China–US Joint Research Center for Ecosystem and Environmental Change (JRCEEC). is a partnership among IInstitute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research (IGSNRR), of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), and the University of Science and Technology of China, UT’s Institute for a Secure and Sustainable Environment, the UT-ORNL Joint Institute for Biological Sciences, Purdue University’s Center for the Environment, JRCEEC was established in 2006.

A formal signing ceremony announcing the EcoPartnership agreement is planned for Tuesday, May 10, in Washington, DC, in connection with the third–annual US–China Strategic and Economic Dialogue event.

The EcoPartnership, a five-year initiative, will focus on joint research aimed at addressing the combined effects of climate change, renewable energy, and human activities on regional and global ecosystems. Research teams also will explore technologies that would aid in restoring damaged ecosystems.

“Through this global initiative, we plan to offer joint research projects, academic exchange, student education, and technology transfer and training that includes business development and entrepreneurship,” said John Bickham, executive director of Purdue’s Center for the Environment and US team leader for the EcoPartnership.

Chinese researchers at CAS’ Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, and the Institute of Applied Ecolog will collaborate with the UT/ORNL/Purdue partners .

Chinese researchers will participate in the EcoPartnership’s kickoff event, “Global Sustainability Issues in Energy, Climate, Water, and Environment,” which is planned for September 26-29 , 2011 at Purdue.

Photo Source: The University of Tennessee